Tried Dropping an axle for the first Time.

nice accomplishment!

 

Looking forward to seeing the jig and process.

 

Beautiful work; thanks for sharing it.

 

Put me down as being interested in how you maintained the camber during the dropping process.

Frank

 

Hey 296 v8

The kingpin fits nice I havent tried the lock pin yet but the hole looks undesturbed.

I lathered cooling gel all over the jig, king pin boss and pirch boss to help avoid distortion. I also heated the axle red hot outside the jig and then put it in the jig and kept it hot. I also did not heat past the web area to avoid distortion. Like I said this was a first atempt and was probabley dum luck and Im not professing to know anything but I had fun doing it.

 

Dumb luck or not, I'm not that far away and have an A axle just begging for the same treatment! Very nicely done.

 

Wow that looks amazing. Good job.

 

It was a total drop of 4" And for 3Wlarry Ive got a crusty 32 heavy that is on deck for a drop. If it works out I'll post the pics. If it doesnt I'll post the pics so you can laugh and say "I told you so". hahaah

I apreciate everyones comments and intrest but I am honestly in no position to drop an axle for anyone. This was just a first atempt for fun. I'll keep you posted if I ever want to do one for anyone. But write now Im just burning accetalean. Thanks Again

 

Get a Magnaflux setup. A worthwhile investment.

 

Will you be posting a "how I done it"?

 

Looks great from down here!

You go through alot of oxy and acetylene to get it soft?
Propane is used as a cheaper alternative for cutting sometimes,
I wonder if that's a good possibility to keep cost down.

Again Nice job!

TP

 

It looks good from this angle also!!!

 

He posted Sunday. Tomorrow. I want to see it as well.

 

Sorry, lost track of my days while off for the holidays. I'll wait patiently........

 

Cool. I've been thinking about the best way to go about making a jig for dropping axles too...

the biggest thing I'm wondering about though... I've seen other people using 2 torches to heat it...

How did you do it? Were you able to do it well enough with 1 torch by yourself?

 

I'm not so sure that's a good idea. Mind you that this is all my logic, and I'm no expert on this subject. So if I'm wrong someone please speak up.

I know that acetylene burns hotter than propane or Mapp gas. If I was gonna heat up an axle for stretching and dropping I would want to heat it up to the right temp as fast as I could and get it dropped quickly. I think if you do this the heat stays localized to just a small area when you drop it. Maybe that's why you you see two guys heating at the same time.

 

If you have done one, you notice real quickly, that the red tends to migrate over to the king pin and perch bores. That is not ideal if your process involves holding one or both of the holes as you bend....it will oblong the holes.

Another thing about the amount of heat; you would think super red heat in one area, that it would take very little effort to bend, if that heated end was held, and you pulled on the other end by hand. It still takes a LOT of force to start the bend. Once it starts, it does go quickly.

I had been looking at old school axles last season at shows. I see many were done, not by holding the axle by a pin bore, but rather some sort of fork tool that grabbed the beam itself. These leave a mark or indent across the top of the beam.


I did mine the "Y2K pretty way" and I now wish I did it the old way. Pretty axles don't look right to me anymore, for some reason.

 

I spose that's because the volume of heat can spread across a thinner surface quick and oblong a hole. If you can get the web stretched before the heat reaches the holes what are the chances of them warping?

I'm not a blacksmith, or a metallurgist, but I think you don't want to get that ****er glowing red hot. That's why I just typed "to the right temp". Also is the force a huge issue? I've seen pictures of guys doing this stuff with a bottle jack.

 

I opened this thread expecting a train wreck, but it looks great.
I'm looking forward to seeing the photos.

 

I think you guys are going to be pretty disappointed In how and what I used to do this it's pretty crude. But it worked and it was free so here it is.

Big thanks To ***us for his Teck article on this topic. I essentially used his idea for the base of the jig.

What I did was Mounted an old roached spindle into a piece of "C" channel. I mounted it so when you put the undroped axle in the jig the spring pirch boss is at 0 degree's totally flat. then I put a small sissor jack on the other end from a honda civic This is very important to have. I made up a Die for lower edge of the axle to contour to. To get the shape for the die I just traced it off a super bell axle.

I did all the heating out side the jig. Then mounted it up and started cranking down on it with the press. I pressed it all the way down until the other end of the axle was touching the unextended sissor jack. Then probably 20 more pumps on the jack for good measure. After that I cranked up the sisor jack until my spring pirch came back to exactly 0 degrees again. Thus keeping my camber angle perfect and giving it a nice stretch with 2 separate bends.

 

nice work buddy! will have to bomb out to your shop sometime to take a look in person.

 

Crude is almost always effective.
If it works it works!
TP

I meant with an oxygen mix,
a torch setup not a hand can.
http://www.cousesteel.com/AndysPlace/PropaneAcetylene.html
There's a special tip,
but like that link says propane heats to 5100 with oxygen vs 5700 oxy/acetylene.
Just was curious though not trying to hijack the thread!

 

Very Nice! Keeping zero degrees at the boss is the way to go!

 

Looks good, glad the tech post helped you out, theres always another way to get to the finished product.

JEFF

 

very nice job...

 

Hey Brad,very impressive.I've got a nice 34 axle you can try.

 

Brad it looks great. Very cool.

 

Well done


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Good work...kingsmen rule !!!!...........

 

more pics! this is *****in!!!